Will New US Agency Match China's Financing in Africa?

The New York Times published on 14 October 2018 an article titled "Trump Embraces Foreign Aid to Counter China's Global Influence" by Glenn Thrush.

This is a good account of the new US International Development Finance Corporation (IDFC) that has the authority to provide up to $60 billion in loans, loan guarantees, and political risk insurance to companies willing to invest in developing countries.

It is important to understand that the funding is NOT limited to Africa and will probably be used more frequently in Asia and Latin America. This bipartisan effort won the support of the Trump administration once it was cast as a way to compete with China. While it is a welcome addition to US tools for competing with China and other investors in the developing world, there should be no illusions about its impact in Africa. The $60 billion is a cap covering an undetermined number of years. It doubles the cap of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), which IDFC has replaced. OPIC's global exposure as of 2017 was $23 billion with about $6 billion of this or 27 percent going to Sub-Saharan Africa. OPIC funding favored safe investments; IDFC can be expected to follow a similar policy. China will likely remain a significantly more important source of lending to Africa even with the creation of the IDFC.